Health professionals want to put warning labels on alcoholic drinks after a study revealed that booze is a direct cause of some types of cancer. The experts reviewed various data, including one from the World Cancer Research Fund, and discovered that drinking alcohol can lead to cancers of the liver, colon, esophagus, larynx, rectum, breast and oropharynx.
In the study that was published on the Journal of Society for the Study of Addiction, researchers stated that even if the amount of alcohol consumed is minimal, the chance of getting cancer is still high.
"The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption," The Guardian quoted Jennie Connor, a researcher from the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine of New Zealand's the University of Otago, as saying.
The researcher stressed that there is really no safe level for drinking alcohol because it can cause cancer no matter how little a person drinks. Likewise, drinking about 50 grams of alcoholic beverage or six ounces of wine a day can increase the drinker's risk of developing cancers of the oropharynx, larynx or esophagus by four to seven times higher.
Aside from the mentioned forms of cancer, Connor said that drinkers are also in danger of getting prostate, skin or pancreatic cancer. Nevertheless, scientists cannot really pinpoint the exact reason on why drinking alcohol can lead to cancer.
The researchers surmised that it could be due to the acetaldehyde which develops when alcohol breaks down. The compound dilapidates the DNA of cells in the liver, mouth, throat and esophagus, thus cancer may result from the damage.
However, Dr. Sam Zakhari, senior vice president of Science at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Washington, DC, refuted the claims of Connor which says that even moderate consumption of alcohol is dangerous.
Dr. Zakhari believes that the research does not accurately show the contents of the latest research. "To declare that alcohol definitively causes cancer-based upon cherry-picked epidemiology articles lacks scientific credibility," he stated in a press release.
In support to Dr. Zakhari, chief executive of the Spirits New Zealand, Robert Brewer, explained that it cannot be denied that a string of health issues can result from heavy drinking, and cancer is one them. However, he reiterated that moderate drinking is actually beneficial to living a healthy life.
Watch the clip which explains the risk of cancer due to alcohol consumption: